What is Knowel?

Knowel is a non-profit organization based in Gothenburg, Sweden, run by master students from Chalmers School of Entrepreneurship. Knowel’s mantra is spreading vital knowledge, and this is done through the different projects that each team undertakes. Knowel is not a charity organization, rather we are a social entrepreneurial venture that aims to spread the knowledge needed to build a better society.

Knowel was founded in 2010, and has since undertaken a couple of different projects. The projects have visited Laos, Kenya and Tanzania. The first project involved the creation of a book to spread vital knowledge through pictures to ensure that everyone could understand it, the second project involved a business plan competition to distribute solar powered lamps and the third project worked together with local students and NGOs in Dar es Salaam in order to improve the businesses of local micro-entrepreneurs.

During the project year 2013 we had, influenced by the aspirations of previous Knowel projects, an ambition to install a more permanent Knowel board responsible for creating a long-term platform for social entrepreneurship. The idea was born out of the frustration that we lacked traceability between different Knowel projects, that lessons learned fell between the cracks and that ambitions of sustainable impact, no matter how important they were, ended up as discrete efforts. We knew we were in need of a systematic approach to better accumulate resources, experiences, people and projects. We’re glad to announce, that during the aftermath of our homecoming we have done just that!

At Knowel, it is our absolute conviction that knowledge precedes all development, and our contribution to a better world is to spread vital knowledge. Our goal with this platform is therefore to collect and share experiences, knowledge and networks that enable and empower people that want to engage in initiatives that strive to create an enlightened world. At the moment we have not one, but five (!) Knowel projects running simultaneously, and we couldn’t be happier. One of the projects also happen to be a continuation of our project, where a new group of great people are building upon our work to achieve even more in East Africa, without having to reinvent the wheel. This is precisely and exactly the reason why we wanted to create this platform, and we’re very excited about what the future will bring. Right now only students from Chalmers School of Entrepreneurship are involved in the projects, but eventually we assume to have an organisation functioning well-enough to incubate, finance and aid any project that is aligned with our vision and wishes to use the Knowel platform.